I need your opinion on this Tolumnia

[estación seca]

It's fine to submerge it in water for several hours.

[Blueszz]

I'll submerge it tomorrow very early in the morning. 3.30p here already. Too late to soak the plant as it won't be dry before the night. I'll add 5 mg/4 liter sugar. That probably won't hurt.

I submerged it once already but maybe not long enough. Roots didn't turn green then.

I think it already looks better but that can be wishful thinking

I'll get you new pictures a week after I received the plant. A comparison with 2 pictures a week apart might be fun.

[Ray]

Forget sugar. Pick up a bottle of Kelpak and use that.

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by Ray

Forget sugar. Pick up a bottle of Kelpak and use that.

I did a quick search but so far I only can find a 5 liter bottle at Amazon. There seems to be no alternative for Kelpak in Europe, except for that huge bottle. However I sent the distributer in the Netherlands an email to ask if and where it is available in smaller quantities.

I would love to give Kelpak a try.

I do find alternatives but for now I don't know if they do what they claim to do. To have an opinion on them I need to do some research.

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by Ray

Forget sugar. Pick up a bottle of Kelpak and use that.

I managed to get it from the distributor! He has some 1 liter bottles left. He’ll ship them to me.

Happy!

[Blueszz]

I have a question about how to use Kelpak on this specific orchid.

I found a post from Ray and he said to use 1 tbs on 4 gallon water. Submerge the plant for several hours, don’t rinse and repeat this procedure.

I’m wondering with which interval I should treat this orchid with Kelpak.

Also, can I use the Kelpak mixture still the day after for instance for watering other plants? Or does it expire/loose it’s potency?

I still reading up on Kelpak.

I expect the Kelpak to arrive Tuesday.

[Blueszz]

I decided to mount it. It's growing mainly bare root and the medium in the pot is old and breaking down.

At this stage I can free the plant from this pot without doing a lot of harm.

If I don't mount it I have to spray it daily once or twice to get all te roots wet and that isn't favorable during our chilly fall and winter when I have to take her indoors eventually . There will be less air movement thus it will take the plant longer to dry once indoors. Especially with high humidity.

If I mount it with sphagnum, I only have to wet that sphagnum and not the entire plant.

Still not sure what side is the best as front but this is the piece of wood I bought. We call it spiderwood, I think in the USA it's known as redmoor root?

It's the root of an Azalea, often used in aquariums and paladuriums. Figured out it would be perfect for mouting orchids.

Branched out nicely



And leaning backwards.


Waiting for a good quality sphagnum until I can start this project.

The Kelpak should arrive tomorrow

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by Ray

Nicole, tolumnias are not really well-suited to pot culture. They are far better suited for mounting and baskets.

In nature, they are “twig dwellers” living on tiny branches of windward shrubs on Caribbean islands. There, as ES stated, they get frequent warm rains and are quickly dried by balmy ocean breezes. The closer you can come to matching that, the better.

Blueszz, as Ray says, they are twig dwellers. Frequent misting and quickly drying. Mounting it is great and natural to how it grows. But daily misting or watering it is still what it needs to survive. Followed by being able to quickly dry. If you surround it with sphagnum moss, how will you achieve having it quickly dry? That's not a viable shortcut.

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[Blueszz]

I agree and that's why I didn't want to use a lot of moss but a string of moss near the roots from the new grows. To keep it wet a tad bit longer.

I won't use the moss then, but will "braid"/weave the new growths between de branches from the spiderwood and see how it goes.

I have to remove it from it's pot first. Maybe I only replace the bark with coarse bark and don't mount it at all.

Thank you for the reminder that it has to dry quickly. I guess the way I thought about quickly isn't quickly enough ;-)

I still wait for a respons from the seller about selling a dehydrated plant. Before I unpot I'll make some new pictures for comparison.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by Blueszz

... Before I unpot I'll make some new pictures for comparison.

Good idea. I'll try to remember to take a picture of a couple of mine that are mounted. Tolumnia really like to be mounted unless you've already perfected something that works well for you. I have a friend that grows them very well in small clay pots with a little charcoal at bottom of pot. But she's perfected her culture of them and schedule for years. I'm not successful with that method.